St Giles Buildings, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College

The brief was to provide 405 9m² student bedrooms on a budget of £14,500 per room. The rooms were planned in clusters of five – an economic as well as social optimum – with a common living-room and kitchen for each group.

En-suite facilities are provided on 124 bedrooms, so they can be used for accommodation during conferences or as holiday lets. Also included are four disabled suites and two senior resident suites, together with a laundry and linen store.

The site, at the western end of a valley, slopes down from south to north and is enclosed by mature trees. The accommodation is organised in two bold forms facing each other across the valley. On the southern slope the buildings are organised around a circular court, while on the northern slope they take the form of a square quadrangle.

In addition there are four villas, two on the northern ridge and two in the valley. The effect is to create a strong sense of place and give a strong individual identity to each of the blocks, which would not have been possible with a more conventional layout.